finally someone in the administration defense nsa spying. their defense was clear, and aggressive. >> do you believe that the allies have conducted or at any time any type of espionage activity against the united states of america our intelligence services our leaders or otherwise? >> absolutely. >> there has not been a mass casualty here in the u.s. since 2001. that's not by luck. they continue to try. it is the great members in the intelligence community, our military, our law enforcement that have stood up and said, this is our job. >> defending themselves with passion and conviction, which up to this point we hadn't seen much of in terms of defense. jim sciutto closely watched the entire hearing today. jim, what were the revelations at the hearing? >> reporter: you got the sense as you say, erin, they were just waiting to go have the chance to push back like this. they pushed back very strong here. first on spying both clapper and alexander saying that our allies spy on us, including on our leaders, that in fact the intelligence services